Lovecraftian fishing game Dreadmoor combines the eerie vibes of Dredge with the immersive first-person navigation of Sea of Thieves.

The Completely Normal Fishing subgenre continues to flourish with the announcement of Dreadmoor, a jolly little tugboat enterprise set in a world of island-sized ribcages and heightened background radiation. My goodness, so normal! Normality readings off the scale. I am confident that nothing foetid and otherworldly waits in the darkness, far below your rudder. Here’s a trailer.

The obvious parallel here is Dredge, the top-down cosmic horror trawling sim from Black Salt Games. Our previous captain Katharine Castle (RPS in peace) was a big fan. At the risk of yet again sounding like Dr Contrarian S. Hype-Puncturer, I thought it was a bit mid. I loved the concept of reeling tetronimo-shaped Cthulhaddock from the abyss while reckoning with a day-night cycle, but in practice, it just felt like a load of fetchquests revolving around a not especially gratifying mystery.

Dreadmoor resembles Dredge so closely in places that I’m tempted to refer to it as Dredgemore. It, too, obliges you to cram asymmetrical bottom-feeders into a grid-based inventory, rotating them to make optimal use of space. It, too, asks you to be careful after sundown. It, too, favours warm, flat colours and cartoon contours, to the point that the giant angler fish that emerge to swallow your boat seem almost pettable. It, too, follows a loop of selling bizarre ocean fauna to swivel-eyed weirdos, then using the proceeds to upgrade your ship and craft new gear.

But Dreadmoor cribs just as much from Rare’s Sea of Thieves, with the ability to roam inside your boat, cast lines and even venture ashore in first-person view. The boat can be steered in third-person, the better to avoid any tentacles grasping at your timbers. I imagine all that’s very attractive to people who are hankering for a Dredge 2.

Personally, I’m most enticed by the idea of crafting my own fishing lures, which puts me nicely in mind of China Mieville’s The Scar. Remember the hook they used to reel in the Avanc? I’m not sure Dreadmoor’s doughty steamship has the buoyancy or ballast for that kind of prey, but I live in hope/terror. There are apparently about 100 species of aquatic organism to yank rudely from the depths. You probably won’t want to keep the stranger breeds aboard your vessel for long.

Dreadmoor has no release date as yet – read more on Steam. For more completely normal fishing, check out whatever the creator of Arctic Eggs is doing next.